


A Tale of Time-Space

by HydraDahl



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barulian, M/M, Mentions of Dystopian Reality, Plot with Romance, Science Stuff, Slow Build Up Romances...Sorry, Speed-force, Time-Space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 16:07:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3535655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HydraDahl/pseuds/HydraDahl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world is just like it has always been - Barry Allen is the Flash by night and by day he is trapped in a laboratory with his co-worker Julian Albert.<br/>The Reverse Flash still lingers like an after-image around Central City with no tangible trace to follow anymore, however meta-humans are in great supply and Flash finds himself gladly distracted by the demands of being a hero.<br/>Little does he know that something is coming, something that will force him to forge alliances with unlikely friends and come to distrust someone he always thought he could believe in.<br/>Barry will need the help of his team and enemies to face the monster of Time-Space, and the even greater monster of the Speed-Force if they're all going to survive and more importantly be human enough in themselves to be worth living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Time-Space

 

To imagine such a place would be to describe a blindingly white ocean of surging power, repeatedly collapsing in on itself before pressing with insurmountable force against the very fabric of time holding all of the chaos together. Time-Space was far from, what one would believe, silent and linearly organized, it was perhaps the very opposite; realities were represented with pools like bottomless funnels appearing in all manner of distances from the other - within those worlds each silent passing of a second ticking over was a thunderous crashing of foreign elements flowing through and weaving in and out of each other. And among this violent cascading void was one thing that above all things did not belong. 

A human.

Not as one would recognize such a thing, as most humans can be as a entity, recognized by a face. This being stands stationary against time ever in motion, each step that he might take tears apart the surface under his boot. His black clad hands shake with devastation as they hover over a blank space of white, nothing is there to morn and yet perhaps there was once. 

The being clasps its hands into tight fists, holding onto the only thing it knows for sure. And that is that it was sheltered and preserved by the time-space for a reason, for as still as it appears, this being is on the inside, much like the chaos.  
__________________________________________________________________________

The weather of Central City was raining the contents of a sea over the streets, dark clouds obstructed the moonlight leaving only the street lamps to light the way with an artificial glow. The neat circle of bright blue-white it cast at its base flickered just momentarily as a shadow crossed through it. 

The figure was running, albeit not as fast as he could run, toward a Meta-human whom close proximity was unwise. 

This Neil Borman was no ordinary Meta-Human, if there were such a thing.

Borman was truly cursed by the Particle Accelerator explosion, to begin his story by divulging his occupation - a Nuclear Engineer, not much more had to be said. The force of the explosion sent him to his death over the platform rails he’d held onto each day of his working life and into the nuclear reactor cooling system. Certainly an unpleasant end, if it had only been that way. However Borman was preserved by and affected by the nuclear radiation. 

Scientist for the Star Laboratories, Cisco Ramon affectionately refers to the man reincarnate as Fallout. Barry Allen had not been entirely sure if Cisco’s choice of name was referring to the fusion of nuclear and bio-matter or the events of Borman’s life after being transformed, there was however the irony of both being relative in this case. Still Barry insisted on maintaining Borman’s identity, as it was one of the only things left to humanize the man. Borman had awoken among the rubble of the nuclear plant days later, stumbling out of the unmanned quarantine zone, his distressed state of mind had driven him to find the most important thing to him, his wife, hold her and thank whatever chance that thought to spare him from dying that night. He did as he had hoped. Only to watch his loved ones as they crawled, fingers clawing against their own living room carpet, attempting to flee his very radiating presence. Their bodies gave out one by one, youngest first until at last his wife fell lifelessly, his family’s last image was of him.

A monster.

Borman surrendered to a military squad knees against the freshly cut lawn, behind him his house of thirty-four years, handled as an ore of uranium he was sealed and transferred into the hands of the military’s covert Meta-Human Division under instruction of General Wade Eiling. The General had the nuclear man taken to Iron Heights, wheeled down into the deepest chambers of the prison and encased inside a generator. Tasked only with supplying nuclear power to the prison at the cost of great paining effort and exhaustion. Each timeless day and night passed without any distinction between them and the demanding scream of pain was now only a distant cry. Borman had seen no future for his existence until one day when they inexplicably decided to have him moved, it was as if a heavy shroud had been lifted from his body and something drove him to take action. He managed to escape while being held temporarily on the surface level, pursuit for his recapture was weak at best - with those knowing his condition. Borman was overcome with the same impulse as the day he’d first woken up with this terrible curse.

Barry Allen was clad in the scarlet speedsters suit, half running or at best a late for work jog. He had really listened to Caitlin Snow about this Meta-Human, there was something different about Borman, something that really spoke to him. Despite not really having much of a plan to catch the man, he was out here - but with full confidence in his team to devise a way to approach a meta-human beacon of nuclear radiation.

“We have no idea.” 

Announced Cisco’s voice, confirming over the static of the headpiece that neither time nor random inspiration were on their side tonight. Barry’s steps came slower than before, running now would only pointlessly use up potential energy, when he needed a direction. And a plan.

“We have to know something?...Right?”

There was silence over the line and then there was a rustling and a sound of a microphone switch and sure enough Harrison Wells’ voice came through, his tone bearing nervousness which only served to make Barry more hesitant in turn.

“General Eiling is conducting a manhunt as we speak.”

Barry cursed under his breath before answering “Dr Wells we have to beat him to Borman this time. But I can’t go anywhere if I have no direction to go in, or even a vague clue of where he’d even want to go.”

Harrison’s voice was clear and certain “Barry. Go to the Central City Graveyard.”

Barry could hear the erupting questions on the other end of the microphone, he had a mind to join in until he was given an answer

“Borman only cares about one thing, and that’s where he’s going.”

In a flash Barry was standing in the Central City Graveyard just outside of town, his first thought was that his mother was in here. The thought shaken from his mind he moved onward into the large sprawling graveyard, searching for Borman whom may have not even arrived yet or perhaps already left.

Barry searched through the grounds, one headstone after the next as the realization hit him - just how many people really die. There finally was the name he was looking for ‘The Borman Family’ the deceased site took up a fair space of ground, Neil Borman had killed them all - it was one thing to hear it, but another to see it like this.

“Barry! Get out of there!” Caitlin’s voice was desperate.

Barry turned to find Borman only a few meters away from him, standing with a sickly sway. The Flash immediately began creating some distance between them but not enough to be abandoning the reason he was here.

“Who...are you?” Borman rubbed at his forehead with the palm of his hand which was shaking against his control. His body was partially transparent, his skin had a warning shade of glowing green however the radiating shadow he projected was clinging to a small space around him. Blue veins protruded across his bald head and body, circling around a large circular plug embedded in his chest.

Barry immediately raised his scarlet clad hands in surrender “I’m not here to hurt you Neil, I know what happened to you, I know about the accident. I’m here to help you.”

“No one c…can help me.” Borman began to move away from him slowly staring anywhere but the Speedster and Barry began to wonder if there was something more important behind him, sure enough upon checking he read briefly ‘A beloved mother.’.

Borman knelt down on the dirt trail that outlined each grave site, he seemed defeated as his eyes scanned over her stone “She was a beloved mother. It doesn’t say she was also a beloved wife, I didn’t deserve for her to be remembered as my wife.”

“Neil. I know that you cared about your family, and what happened to you was horrible-”

Borman cut him off mid-sentence “You d...don’t understand what it is like to have lost your whole w...world. Lost everything-” He gasped “...Everything is gone, I...I killed them. Me. They’re dead because I’m... a monster.”

Barry shook his head slowly, still as a genuine show of concern, offering his open palms “I don’t believe you’re a monster, I’m sure they would never have believed that either. Please I can find a place to keep you safe from the people that are looking for you, they won’t stop hunting you Neil. Please let me help you.”

“Can you kill me?”

The speedster was shocked not having expected that request from the nuclear man, he was however silent for longer than his team deemed necessary and Harrison’s voice came through the ear-piece “You’re not going to do that are you Barry.” it was as much a statement as a question.

“...No. No I wont kill you Neil.” His answer was overshadowed by his consideration of Borman’s request. He rearranged his proposal in his head, skipping straight to the point “We have a place that you’ll be safe-” Neil was shaking his head “-A place you’ll still be productive, listen to me Neil. If you think there is nothing left for you here then you’re right, that life, that Neil Borman is gone now. Whoever you are now can still be something, be worth something more.”

“I’m not going back there.”

“I don’t mean back to Iron Heights, I want to take you to Star Labs - we can find out as much as we can to help you and you’ll be able to provide panel absorbed power, painless and useful. But you still have a choice Neil, you don’t have to come with me - but then I can’t help you.”

There was a long silence.

“I know the way.” with his voice only just above a defeated whisper the nuclear man turned away and headed in the direction toward the circular colossus that was Star Labs.  
Barry waited until Borman was out of sight before he exhaled with a long sigh he hadn’t known he’d been holding back, this was a win. However something in the atmosphere didn’t quite reflect that notion - perhaps it was just the nuclear radiation or maybe the headstones.

Whatever thought that might have followed was interrupted by two flying pincers clasping his lower back and an intense electric shock, his eyes clenched shut and his whole body fell to the ground as every muscle in his body contracted beyond his control. The earpiece had overloaded for a moment before it began a system restart, he took the opportunity to open his eyes against the bright torchlight which momentarily forced him to wince and close them again. An object moved to obscure the torchlight now, he couldn’t make out what it was exactly - no wait that was definitely a gun.

“Bagging two assets in one night, now that’s what I call a success.” 

Barry managed to prop himself up on his elbows now “You don’t have Borman.”

“No but I will. You’ve got your bets on this graveyard too, he’ll show.”

Something must have shown in his expression because he felt the General’s gun pressed squarely against his forehead “Don’t play games with me Flash. Your dead body is almost worth the live one.”

Barry actually smirked a little at that “Almost.” 

In an instant there was a blur of red lightening hauling Barry out of harms way, he was sure the gun went off as he disappeared. A heavy arm was wrapped around him in a tight grip, wind blowing against his face as the scenery changed abruptly. Another speedster had rescued his life.

The red lightening shrouding his hero dimmed, and when the dullness reached the speedsters legs they came crashing to a stop. Barry collided with the grass by the street, lucky to have missed the asphalt, no such luck for his rescuer who curled his back up against the side walk hissing in pain, hands hovering over his legs, fingers twitching and shaking.  
Barry used his upper body strength to crawl over to the stranger whose suit was now coming into full view of the street light, the man in yellow was inhaling sharply as his legs shook - no vibrated against the ground like the speed-force was convulsing inside him. There was something to be pitied in how desperate and weak the speedster looked. Barry was fast regaining the functionality of his limbs - this was his chance to deliver all the vengeance that he had imagined.

But none of it ever came.

Instead the man in yellow grasped his thighs with both hands, holding them still against the speed-force and after only a short time the shake began to dissipate. 

“Why would you save me?”

The Reverse Flash turned his head sharply to stare at Barry, red eyes hollowing through him with a flash of something he couldn’t place.

“Why not kill me? Or let me die?” 

His nemesis’ eyes shifted between his own - searching for something. Something he’d said had struck a nerve or better yet Reverse had revealed more than he ought to by saving him.

In a gust of wind and red lightening he was gone, Barry watched him in the distance - racing along the stretch of winding suburban roads, violent sparks of red against the night sky. 

And for a moment he could have sworn, he saw a second body of red lightening trailing after the Reverse Flash.

 

A visual mistake.

Surely.


End file.
